Always Alone
by halfkyuubikat
Summary: Prequel to Never Alone Sakura is trying to move on from the past, but Naruto requests one last attmept at returning Sasuke to Konoha. It only takes one mission to change her entire world and lead her to a dark future. DARK FIC! Future smut...
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Alright the beginning of Always Alone had begun. So for each chapter I'm going to give a song that plays along with what is happening during the chapter (I listen mostly to alternative bands so don't expect rap or anything…). For this chapter the song will be for the whole story. This story unlike Never Alone will not have as MUCH a dark sasuke. Hes still pretty dark, because if you have been reading the manga you would know that hes well…acting interesting –cough-hesgonecompletlynuts-cough- Also this will be a romanced themed story and not involve as MUCH violence and angst as Never Alone, well until near the end…hmmmm…Oh also I have decided that I will write a few lemons for this story, but they will be in latter chapters…(I need to work up the bravery)_

_For those who are just starting to read this, Always Alone is the prequel to Never Alone. You do not have to read Never Alone to understand this story, but I would be happy if you did read it anyways. I hope everyone enjoys Always Alone!_

_A note on the side, my main focus between the two stories is going to be Never Alone, I would like to finish that before I get too deep into Always Alone. For that reason I will update one chapter of Always for every two of Never._

_Song for Story: __**Haunted~ Evanescence**_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Do you guys ever get bored of reading all the 'I don't own Naruto' things? Cause you would think that the world would know by now that we fanfiction writers do no own naruto. And im willing to bet that we never will. Sorry it's just a fact of life._

* * *

**Long lost words whisper slowly to me  
Still can't find what keeps me here  
When all this time I've been so hollow...inside**

(I know your still there)  


* * *

_"…It's over now."_

_Rumble._

_"Please…Please j-just let it go."_

_"But-"_

_"No! You need to let it go! Y-You need to let him go!"_

_"Sa-"_

_"The promise is through! It's not what I want anymore. I-I've given up on him returning and It's time that you did too. H-He's not coming back…I don't…You need to stop…I don't want you to hurt anymore."_

_Pause._

_"………No I…"_

_"Please! Please j-just…"_

_Sob._

_"…just one more time. One more try at retrieving him…then I'll give up…I'll give up if I can't bring him home."_

_"Naru-"_

_"Just one more time!!"_

_Silence._

_"O-ok. J-just one more…once more."_

* * *

**Watching me; Wanting me;  
I can feel you pull me down **

* * *

"Are you all prepared for this mission?"

"Hai!" came the eight monotone replies.

"Then time to head out! Mission begins now!" all nine ninjas ran out of the gates and toward the destination that this final retrieval mission was to begin at. They kept together in a large group for now since they had a good three days journey until they would reach the region in which the mission would truly begin. The last known sighting of Sasuke Uchiha.

A blonde haired man ran next to the only two kunochi that would be present on this mission. He fell into place beside them before he turned toward the one that ran with an almost absent minded look, despite the fact she ran focused with the rest of the group.

He paused for a moment before he spoke to her.

"Sakura…are you sure you want to go on this mission? You know you don't have to…"

Anger pulsed in Sakura's veins and she turned to glare at her team member only to see that he really did have a generally concerned look on his face. She found herself momentarily lost in the eyes that although were soft were concern, were thick with the emotion of determination.

She took one small calming breath before she spoke back to him.

"I'm fine Captain!" she smiled slightly when he grinned at the name that he had earned for this mission. Sakura had the sinking feeling that Tsunade would be assigning Naruto quite a few more missions on which he was leader. After all he had done for this village there was no more denying it, and the thought made her heart ache. He would soon be too busy to talk to her and constantly ask her on dates or to go eat at Ichiraku Ramen. Too busy to spend all his free time with her and be her best friend. Her very best friend.

He must have seen something in her expression that showed the loneliness she was feeling, because he quieted and just ran beside her. She had a feeling that he believed that she was in pain over Sasuke and this mission. Which wasn't necessarily untrue, just not what she was thinking about at that moment.

In truth she didn't want to go on this mission at all. She had been willing to give up on Sasuke and the pathetic attempts at returning him to the village. He was already considered a major threat to all the villages and despite him being not truly being responsible (or more like successful) in the capture of the Raikage's brother, or rather the container of the Eight tailed binju, it was unlikely he would ever truly be allowed to return to the village.

Tsunade had agreed with Sakura when she had awoken from her comma. When she learned of Danzo's stunt and Sasuke's attack on the kage summit she had been less than happy. Furious would be more accurate. Danzo had not returned from the summit. Him and his followers obviously knew that they were in danger from Sasuke and turned there asses and fled. Wimps. Tsunade felt that with this last attempt (note the attempt) to return Sasuke they would make him a truly missing nin. One that if returned to the village, would have to face death.

Sakura knew the only reason that Tsunade even considered allowing the Uchiha back was because he would be needed essential to the ongoing hysteria that was involved in the announcement that the 4th great ninja war had begun. Tsunade knew that if Sasuke were to return to the village, we would if not win, then gain the momentum that was needed to kick the asses of all the remaining Akatuski members.

But Sakura knew that this mission would fail before it began. The reasons being as such (1) the chances of the group even locating the Uchiha were slim to none and (2) even with Naruto's great improvement and strength, detaining Sasuke was probably going to be impossible. She didn't even consider bringing Sasuke home by peaceful transitions as potential. No, Sasuke would never willingly agree to return to Konoha.

Never.

When Naruto had told Sakura what the Akatuski member with the mask had said about Itachi not being evil, she found it truly hard to understand and believe. Did it really matter though? All it did was fuel Sasuke's hate toward the world; toward everything.

This was the reason she did not want to accompany the mission, because in the slight chance that the group did meet up with Sasuke, she would have to look at his face; into his eyes. The eyes that were uncaring, the eyes of a man that could kill his best friend, the eyes of someone who would never love her.

She felt horrible thinking that. She didn't want to remember how she had tried hard again and again to gain some sort of affections from the boy. Never once would she gain any and she knew that she never will. She wanted to be happy and for a while she began to think that Naruto would be the one to give her that happiness until she saw the way he had started to look at Hinata.

Like right now for instance.

Bonking him on the head with her fist, she pouted slightly before speeding up to run next to her Sensei, leaving Naruto behind rubbing his head. Hinata who had been running next to Naruto went ever so slightly closer to check if he was ok.

Sakura felt a light touch on her shoulder blade and saw that Kakashi had patted her on the back, trying to comfort her. She snorted at such a stupid gesture, but whispered so quietly that she knew that no one but herself and Kakashi would catch her, "Thank You."

She would have not come on this mission at all, except that it was all but thrust down her throat. Tsunade had forced her to accompany the group. She had said that Sakura was needed for her medical ninjutsu. No one else would do, because if anyone faced Sasuke and was injured the only possibility they could survive was if they had the best healing them. Sakura was the best of the best. She groaned inwardly.

The group continued running for the next five hours before the first break was issued. The team that had been chosen for this mission were the following: Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, Lee, Kakashi, and Sai. The group was obviously picked for good reasons. Sakura, being the best Medic Nin in Konoha and having super human strength. The two Hyugas for their byakugan, Kiba and Kakashi for their sense of smell and tracking abilities, Shikamaru for his IQ, and Lee and Sai as battle personal.

Exactly what was need for the impossible mission that had been destined to fail? Ugh! When did she become so pessimistic? She lifted her up looking at the sky trying to lock away her thoughts of doubt from her head. The sun was barley visible in the sky, dusk had arrived. The group started to form a small fire and either sleep around it or just rest and eat.

She sat in a tree a few yards from the group just gazing into the sky, watching as one by one hundreds of thousands of stars started to shine in the night. The moon was just a few days from being full and was large and beautiful.

She found herself looking so often into it, because she knew full well that despite everything that was happening and what the world was coming to, this was the same moon that Sasuke saw as well.

* * *

**Fearing you; Loving you;  
I won't let you pull me down**

* * *

The group was moving faster than before. To Sakura's surprise Pakkun about three hours ago had caught a small sent of Sasuke and was leading them toward that direction. The group had been in search for around five days now. Tsunade had given the group seven days to locate Sasuke before she considered the mission a failure and called the group back home.

Sai was to report with one of his ink animals everyday to the Hokage and inform her if they had caught any sign of the Uchiha. For the last five days there was not a sign of him anywhere. Sakura had become completely convinced that the group would not locate him in the next two days. She was even happy about that fact. Naruto would soon keep his promise to end his search of Sasuke and Konoha could finally move on from the past.

That is what Sakura truly wanted; to move on.

To stop living in the past, a past that seemed unreal to her now. So that's what she made it. Unreal.

Then around noon, Pakkun had abruptly stopped and started sniffing the ground urgently. When he notified the group that he had located Sasuke's sent a mixture of emotions flew throughout the group.

Naruto was excited of course.

Neji, Lee, and Kiba were apprehensive.

Shikamaru was deep in thought and Sakura suspected that right now he was thinking of battle strategies against the Uchiha.

Kakashi seemed indifferent, but in his one visible eye he seemed to have a determined light that rivaled Naruto's.

Sai emotionlessly sent an ink hawk with a note that would report to the Hokage that the group had picked up a sign of Sasuke.

Hinata to no surprise was nervous.

And Sakura was horrified.

As the group ran faster than before toward the sent trail that the ninja dog was tracking, her mind went into overdrive. This was not supposed to happen. They were supposed to not find a trace of Sasuke and then return home.

Her mind panicked at the thought of them actually finding Sasuke. She almost felt sick at the thought of how Naruto would run full throttle to fight him. Sasuke would have that same emotionless face on.

Oh Kami! What if Naruto was hurt! She knew that Sasuke would not kill him, as long as he was still a member of Akatsuki. They still need Naruto, and that at least gave her the relief to know that Naruto would not be killed in a fight with the Uchiha. But the others of the group were not as lucky. In fact she knew that Sasuke would not hesitate in killing all of them, her and Kakashi-sensei included.

Fear raced over her body and she feared for all the friends she had made over the years. She would gladly die for them, but that couldn't be done. Since if she gave her life it meant that any of them could die from injuries. She was unable to be a liability.

Could she ever be anything?

The group traveled quickly through the forest, all of them deep within their own thoughts. Tension was spread thick among them and even Naruto didn't attempt to break through it. She was starting to think that no one would speak again when she heard someone faintly curse.

"Shit."

Everyone stopped dead when the dog stopped moving. For a moment Sakura thought to her relief that the dog had lost Sasuke's sent, but then when to dog turned with his hackles raised and fear in his eyes, she knew that it was something else.

What if Sasuke was near?

"I'm sorry," he whispered urgently, "I was so focused on tracking the Uchiha's sent that I didn't notice the group coming toward us."

Naruto stepped forward.

"Sasuke?" he asked his eyes wide with hope. How could he look like that when Sasuke would only come to kill them?

The dog nin shook his head to side to side, indicating that Sasuke was not the one coming toward them. Naruto's face fell.

"I don't recognize the sent. It's a large group though. Around 20." He sniffed the air briefly before continuing, "No there are 23 of them. Most have a fairly average chakra level, but some seem stronger. Maybe six or seven of them are jounin level, the rest chunin."

The group nodded, all of them understanding that they were under attack.

"How long?" Naruto asked. Sakura was impressed with how much he had changed. He no longer rushed into battle; instead he learned information before he attacked. He was becoming a leader.

"They are coming fast. I would estimate their arrival in ten minutes. No six would be more accurate. I'm sorry there is nothing else I can do. You all know I'm not the fighting type." He turned his small head toward Kakashi, who nodded.

"Summon me once you guys win." he proofed out in a cloud of white smoke. Sakura had to admit she liked how he had said his goodbye as a statement of their winning. It obviously worked well on the rest of the group, who were smiling as well.

Shikamaru stepped forward. Sakura should have known he would develop a plan in that small amount of time they had learned of the appending attack.

"All right guys, here is what were going to do…"

* * *

**Hunting you, I can smell you - Alive  
Your heart pounding in my head**

* * *

They stood hidden among the trees waiting. They had only a minute left at the most, till they arrived.

Sakura stood upside down on one of the tallest trees, atop the tallest branch, hidden from sight from the ground below. The dense foliage even hid her pink locks of hair from the line of sight of others. Her chakra was hidden well; even the areas were her feet were connected to the tree could not be sensed. Then again she had the best chakra control of the group, so it wasn't that surprising.

She held six kunai, three in each hand. They fit between her gloved fingers, in position to be thrown easily. Her index finger twitched in reflex of the awaiting danger that was about to appear. She had already placed some chakra into the knifes. The weapons would go through the tree branches and if someone was hit by one it slice all the way through the body and undoubtedly end that person's life.

The rest of the group was well hidden. They were all in the positions that Shikamaru had assigned them. Now all that was left was to wait.

She heard a faint rustling beneath her and then the quiet jingling of a bell. She couldn't help but smile at how easily they had fell into the trap as she launched her kunai down upon the confused Ninja below her.

* * *

**Watching me; Wanting me;  
I can feel you pull me down  
Saving me; Raping me;  
Watching me...**

* * *

_A/N: And it has begun!! As always reviews, favs, and alerts are awesome and loved!!_

_~Halfkyuubikat~_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Chapter 2! If anybody's wondering about the dark parts, worry not the introduction doesn't involve any Sasuke and he's the inspiration of dark, so since he will be seen pretty soon, the darker parts will start to come as well. If anyone's read Never Alone you understand what I'm talking about. For those who have not, I would be really happy if you did read it!_

_Thanks a bunch! Onward with the story!!!_

**This chapter's song:** Easier to Run~ Linkin Park

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

_Italic = Sakura thinking_

**Bold = Inner Sakura**

* * *

**It's easier to run  
Replacing this pain with something numb  
Its so much easier to go  
Than face all this pain here all alone **

* * *

_How could everything go so wrong in just a short amount of time? The plan was perfect. There was no reason for a mistake to happen. No reason for everything to go wrong._

_But it did._

**XXX**

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed as the yellow haired ninja dashed off following a group of Ninja that ran into the woods, dragging a body with them. Before she could even blink he was gone from her sight. She heard a roar of anger and then nothing from the area of where he had just disappeared.

Just at that moment the only remaining ninja ran toward her unsheathing a long narrow sword from his holster. He charged at her wielding his sword as he slashed at open air. She pulled back her hand before quickly pummeling the ground with her fist, setting off a mini earthquake. The Ninja was forced to leap backward, but by that moment she was already at his side shoving a chakra-enhanced fist toward his chest, causing the man to soar backwards slamming into a few trees, before he became rooted halfway through a large maple. He did not move.

She then started to head toward the direction in which Naruto had disappeared when she heard a strangled bark. Whipping her head around, she saw Akamaru staring at her with distressed eyes. His usual white fur and marred with blotches of red. He let out another bark before quickly turning and running into the forest.

She knew he wanted her to follow him, but her eyes couldn't help but look the way Naruto had run off too. She silently prayed he would be alright and quickly sped off to follow the Ninja dog. She quickly caught up to him and while traveling by his side she realized that his back left paw was injured. It looked slightly sprained and he seemed to be having trouble running on it. He let out the smallest squeal of pain every time he placed it on the ground. Despite wanting to help the dog, she was not specialized in healing animals and since he could still run on the paw, he would be fine for a while. There could very well be a lot worse injuries out there with the rest of the team.

She turned her head to the right and saw a whirlwind of chakra coming fromin that direction, followed by a few shouts coming in reply to it. Recognizing the chakra, she sighed in relief to know that Neji was still fine and kicking ass apparently.

She didn't lessen her pace until the Akamaru himself slowed down. They were now about five miles from where the original battle had started. She froze upon looking down and seeing a blood stained mess not too far from where she was. She leaped down from the trees and raced toward the bloody mess that was in a heap at the base of a large oak tree.

Kiba had his eyes closed and was taking short shallow breaths. Blood was splattered across his face and body and he groaned when he suddenly caught the scent of something. Not being able to directly smell who it was from the overpowering smell of blood on his face, he prepared to be attacked.

Kiba opened his eyes and quickly reached down into his pocket grabbing Kunai knifes and prepared to throw them at the intruder until he noticed the Pink hair that flew in his direction. It was now around her chest in length, she started to grow it out a few months back. He sighed in relief the minute she appeared next to him.

Akamaru appeared to his right and settle down next to him, Kiba lazily reached out an arm and stroked the dogs head.

Sakura was horrified to see the amount of blood staining the shinobi and was surprised he was alive, let alone conscious, but then he chuckled.

"Most of it's not mine Sakura. The worst I have is a few kunai wounds and a broken leg. I can't move it at all. That's the reason I had to send Akamaru. Think you can fix me up?"

She rolled her eyes and decided it was best to heal the leg, in case it took large reserves of her chakra. Luckily she had not used a lot during the battle and had enough left to treat one serious wound and a lot of minor ones.

Finding his broken leg she placed her hands on the injured part and starting pushing her healing chakra into his system, mending together the part where the two bones where broken apart. It wasn't too serious and she figured she would have it healed to the point he could walk in around ten minutes.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I-I don't know. I think some of them were down playing their chakra, because there are way more than seven Jounin level ninja out there. Pakkun was defiantly wrong there. Then they were able to know are movements before we attacked. They obviously knew we were going to set a trap. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was at Shikamaru's level of intelligence."

He nodded his agreement with her.

"Where is everyone else?" he questioned after another minute of silence.

"I heard Neji fighting on the way here. He seemed to be doing fine. Naruto and…Hinata who were in my group…" Kiba looked up when she mentioned Hinata's name and obviously noticed how she had paused before she continued.

"What?" His voice was weary and he was afraid of the answer he would get from the Kunoichi.

"Hinata got knocked out by some of them and they started to drag her away, Naruto followed them."

Kiba nodded knowing that Sakura didn't know what happened after that, even though inside he was withering with anger on the inside. After another minute and Sakura had almost completely healed the fracture in Kiba's leg when a noise was heard behind them.

Sakura whipped around taking a defensive position in front of her patient. Akamaru stood beside her growling toward foliage in which the noise was coming from.

Sakura prayed that if they had to fight, she had healed enough of Kiba's leg that he could defend himself. Next to her Akamaru sniffed the air and then stilled before giving a bark. Kiba grunted.

"It's okay Sakura, It's Kakashi and Sai that are coming. Akamaru can't smell any enemy Ninja nearby."

Just then the two Konoha Ninja landed on the ground and raced toward the three until they stopped in front of them. Sakura immediately looked for any signs of large wounds or broken bones, but beside a few scratches and cuts Kakashi and Sai were fine.

"Sakura, Kiba, are you two alright." Kakashi was the one to ask, but that was not a surprise since Sai wasn't a talker.

Sakura nodded her head while Kiba was quick to ask questions.

"Have you guys seen everybody else?! Hinata?"

"Shikamaru and Rock Lee were fighting around ten miles north, but we haven't seen anybody else besides you two."

Kiba was about to speak, but Sakura interrupted him.

"Did either of them have any serious injuries?" Sakura questioned.

"No both of them were doing fine. I really doubt they will need treatment anytime soon." Kakashi answered once again.

Kiba interrupted before the Sakura could ask any more questions.

"Kakashi, Hinata was taken by some of the attackers. Uzamaki went after her, but I'm worried. I obviously can't do anything," he emphasized his notion by pointing at his still oddly shaped leg, "and Sakura has to finish healing me before she can go."

Kakashi nodded completely serious.

He turned toward Sakura again, knowing that she would stick close by Naruto during fights and if Naruto had gone after Hinata, Sakura would have seen it. When her Sensei turned to look at her, Sakura nodded her head, knowing that he wanted information.

"Around five miles east, is the last location I saw him. It should be easy enough to find, the ground is completely destroyed in that area. The direction he seemed to be heading toward was southeast of that location. There were six Ninja there, I took care of one and Naruto followed the others. I believe two of them were Jounin and the other three were Chunin."

Kakashi nodded once again before he and Sai started to go the way Sakura had instructed them to. Sakura stopped them before they could leave completely from her sight.

"Check on Neji, he was fighting in that direction, oh, and if anyone is injured it would be easier to get them to this sight for me to treat them, but if it's questionable on whether or not to move them, don't. Send someone to get me."

Sai this time spoke.

"Whatever Ugly." With that he disappeared leaving an angry Kunoichi behind. Kakashi shook his head before following the replacement member of Team 7.

Sakura growled out toward the direction in which the two had disappeared.

"Bastard." She mumbled before turning once again toward Kiba, a smile spreading across her face.

"All right Kiba, lets finish fixing you up!" she giggle before placing her hands on Kiba's still injured leg.

* * *

**Something has been taken  
From deep inside of me  
A secret I've kept locked away  
No one can ever see  
Wounds so deep they never show  
They never go away  
Like moving pictures in my head  
For years and years they've played **

**

* * *

**

"Do you think we should follow them?" Kiba asked.

It had been nearly ten minutes since the two Konoha ninja had seen any signs of the other members of their groups. Kiba was now pacing back and forth on the ground, despite Sakura's objections to his walking so soon after she healed his injury. She sighed out loud before roughly pushing Kiba to the ground, forcing his actions to cease.

"Were you not listening to anything I was saying, Baka? We have to stay here so that I can be located in case someone is injured. What good will it do if they can't locate the only Medic Ninja on a mission?" Sakura said as she took a seat next to Kiba.

He pouted, but did not speak again about the matter.

"Why do you think that group attacked us? The people I was fighting had the sound headband on; did all of them have it?"

Sakura nodded. She had been thinking about this a lot, wondering why such a large group of ninja would attack their group. It wasn't too surprising with the 4th Ninja war going on, but how they had tried very hard to separate the group apart had her thinking about what they were doing here.

"I think, though I'm not sure about this, but I believe they were sent here to detour us from Sasuke. Did you notice how they attacked in a formation so we all had to form individual groups that ended up miles apart from the others? I think they wanted to separate us so that it would take us longer to locate Sasuke or even possibly completely loose his trail."

Kiba looked deep in thought, but he shook his head denying the idea after a few moments.

"How would they know we were after the Uchiha?"

"Is it really all that hard not to notice? Were a group of strong, elite Ninja, a relatively large one at that and a lot of this group have already gone on previous Sasuke retrieval missions. Also we were headed toward the last sighting of Sasuke-Ku," she broke off realizing her mistake. She shook her head side to side before continuing. "-_Sasuke_. So they must have assumed that we were after him again and done a maneuver to keep us separated so we can't locate him."

This time Kiba didn't place an objection. Sakura was actually kind of happy that the retrieval team was attacked. Now they would probably never find Sasuke and then the group would be required to head back to Konoha in two days. Naruto would be disappointed for sure, but he would keep the promise and not attempt to go after Sasuke any longer. It was a good thing that the attack had occurred.

_No, don't think like that! What about Hinata!! She could be seriously hurt and here I am thinking it's a good thing!_

**Naruto would never let anything happen to her, you know that. **

_I guess that's right…_

**You don't need any more Sasuke-kun now. You gave him up and seeing him again would only lead to more hurt. It's only natural** **that you don't want to be around him again.**

_Yes…Yes that's true, but Hinata…_

**Naruto's in love with her, he would die before she was seriously hurt.**

_In love with? No he just…j-just-_

**That's a lie and you know it. That's why you're so upset. Naruto was always there for you and you naturally assumed he always would be, but now he's moved on and left you behind. You're so greedy.**

_No…I-I_

**Greedy! Greedy! Greedy!**

_Shut up! Just Shut up!!_

**Fine…but I'm you and you're me and we both know the truth…**

"Are you ok Sakura?"

Her inner debates were interrupted by the hand that gently touched her shoulder. She turned to see Kiba looking at her with a generally concerned look on his face.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine." She stuttered out with great difficulty.

"You sure, cause you like kind of sick…" he asked gently taking his arm from around her shoulder. Sakura nodded her head, trying to convince Kiba. Another few minutes past in silence between the two and during that time Akamaru had fallen into a light sleep.

Then Kiba stood abruptly swearing his head off.

"Shit! Oh crap..Oh crap!!!" he growled out, while his outburst caused the dozing dog to awaken from its slumber.

"What is it Kiba!!" she asked her eyes automatically looked around the clearing, searching for any signs of distress.

Then Akamaru sniffed the air before going rigged. He made a low, predatory growl. His hackles rose and he shook while his muzzle opened to show his teeth. He stood up from where he was laying and padded forward a few steps to stand nearby his companion. Kiba did not answer her question.

"Kiba!!"

He turned toward her fear evident in his eyes.

"I didn't notice! I'm sorry! They're going to be here in less than a minute. We can't run." He spoke to her in a low hushed whisper. He went toward his weapon's pouch grabbing kunai and shuriken, preparing to fight.

Sakura realized danger was coming and reached into her bag, pulling out her black fighting gloves. She quickly placed them on her hands and cracked her fingers, stretching the ligaments so that she was ready to attack.

"How many Kiba?" she barley heard her own voice, but knew that Kiba with his supper sensitive hearing would.

"Two…but their different, they smell stranger…deadlier, than the ones before. These aren't any of the people we were just fighting." He stood very still his eyes transfixed on a certain area of the forest. Akamaru went to his right side and Sakura fell beside his left, taking a small step in front of Kiba, in order to protect the still weak ninja. Akamaru did the same.

Sakura then reached out with her chakra trying to locate exactly how far away the people were. She tried to find chakra, but was unable to. They were concealing it and well at that. Then finally she felt it. Not the chakra, but the overwhelming dark power that approached them. She took a weary step backward at how fast the two people were coming at them.

She sucked in a breath before, preparing her body for battle. She knew now this was not going to be as easy as a fight like the previous one. She had used a lot of chakra healing Kiba's leg and now had a little more than half her chakra left. She would probably end up using all of it, if the Goosebumps on her arms held any significance of the strength the two approaching enemies had.

Time seemed to slow down. Everything seemed to not happen at normal speed, like someone had hit the slow down button. It felt like a life time waiting for the two persons to appear, but it could have been no more than ten seconds. Then time seemed to speed up when she heard a voice coming from above the tree line.

"What a pretty girl we have here. Gorgeous." She looked up to see standing in the trees a man with silver hair and a wicked smile that was spread across his features. He smiled showing the Konoha ninja his shark-like teeth. A shiver went down Sakura's spine.

Then she realized there was another presence nearby and she looked just a little past the shark-tooth man to try and find the other hidden figure. She noticed an outline of someone, but they were hidden in the dark. The shadow of the trees in the area gave his appearance cover.

Then slowly but surely he stepped out from his hiding spot, taking almost deliberately slow steps into the light so that those around could see the man's body.

Sakura gasped.

* * *

**Just washing it aside  
All of the helplessness inside  
Pretending I don't feel misplaced  
Is so much simpler than change **

**

* * *

**

_A/N: Oh! I'm so evil leaving with a cliff hanger! I hope to have the next chapter up in a week or two! Please review, fav or alert! They make me want to continue writing the story!!_

_~Halfkyuubikat~ _


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Wholly crap am I bored… (Yes I know I have nothing to say at all) Uh, check out my short story 'My Nii-san's Best Friend' It's a happy SasuSaku story that I'm writing so that I do more than Angst…yep okay…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto_

_Next Update: Never Alone Chapter 11 (Also no, I am not editing the Never Alone chapters and will continue to update quickly.) Oh, I think I will have the update by Wednesday! Yeah! Go me!_

Lyrics: Breakdown ~ Breaking Benjamin

**Bold** = Inner Sakura

_Italics_ = Sakura's thoughts

* * *

**Breakdown!**

Let the fun and games begin  
She is spayed and broken in  
Skin is cold and white  
Such a lovely lonely night

* * *

"_What a pretty girl we have here. Gorgeous." She looked up to see standing in the trees a man with silver hair and a wicked smile that was spread across his features. He smiled showing the Konoha ninja his shark-like teeth. A shiver went down Sakura's spine._

_Then she realized there was another presence nearby and she looked just a little past the shark-tooth man to try and find the other hidden figure. She noticed an outline of someone, but they were hidden in the dark. The shadow of the trees in the area gave his appearance cover._

_Then slowly but surely he stepped out from his hiding spot, taking almost deliberately slow steps into the light so that those around could see the man's body._

_Sakura gasped._

XXX

The man that now stood standing next to the other ninja was gigantic! (A/N: How many thought it was Sasuke? Come on admit it.)

Not in a fat way, but in the way that he stood tall at about 6 feet and at least five inches, maybe more. He had wild spiky orange hair that surpassed Naruto's style. He towered over his partner and despite the calm nature of his face, dread filled Sakura's body.

**What kind of steroids is that thing on!! **

_I have no idea…_

She could feel Kiba become visibly nervous from behind her. He paced on his feet and she could tell that though he itched to fight, his senses were telling him to flee. Akamaru let out a low threatening growl and his fur expanded, making him appear even larger than before.

Suddenly Sakura realized just what deep shit they were in.

As Kiba had stated before these ninjas were no babies and she could even fell the chakra radiating from their bodies. No doubt they would put up a good fight for any ninja, let alone one that was still injured and another that had used a nice amount of chakra in healing wounds. Akamaru still couldn't move properly on his feet.

Basically if they fought it spelt doom for the Konoha ninja.

_Great._

Sakura leaned toward Kiba, trying her best to conceal her voice though she had a feeling the two invaders would hear her anyway.

"Kiba, can we make a run for it?"

"No, me and Akamaru won't ma—"

"Pretty girl…Pretty girl…"

At the sound of the slow and dark voice, all heads present turned to where the noise came from. The orange haired man head was now facing the ground and he was shaking in uncontrollable spasms. For a moment confusion filled her thoughts until Sakura eyes focused on the shark man's face.

He was generally terrified.

"Pretty girl….hehehe….pretty girl…" he muttered and although Sakura couldn't see his face she could picture a sinister smile on his expression. She froze where she stood. The silver haired man stayed absolutely still, to the point he looked like a statue.

"Juugo….come on its okay….Juugo.." he spoke calmly, but was taking the smallest steps backward away from the tall man.

"Who to die! Who to die!" he started chanting the words.

Sakura was utterly terrified. He went from a calm and total emotionless, to chanting random words like he was a five year old.

The one called 'Juugo' was still shacking, his body would spasm every once in a while, causing a jolt to send through the air. His chakra was growing at alarming rate. The silver haired man now jumped backward, launching himself to a tree branch at least fifty feet from where he previously stood.

_If the partners afraid of him…_

"HEHEHEHE!!!!!"

The sudden outbreak of laughter in the clearing caused everyone to flinch. Akamaru was shaking and he whimpered out, something that made Kiba go pale.

"Shit!" he made an effort to reach toward Sakura's hand, but at that same moment a shadow was cast over the Konoha nin.

Juugo bent his face right over the pink haired girls, who stood wide eyed at the giant man who now stood right in front of her. She barley reached the bottom portion of his chest.

Kiba, who now was separated from Sakura, retracted his hand. It shook as it fell limply to his side.

Sakura flinched when she felt an oversized hand stroke her cheek.

"Hmmmmmm……I know!" his voice had taken on an almost child-like quality.

"The Pretty girl will die."

In that same moment she caught sight of his eyes and his face as he glowered down at her. Crazed. Insane.

_This guys nuts!!!_

Yet it reminded her of someone. Though the thoughts were interrupted as something came into contact with her stomach and catapulted her backwards. She nearly slammed into Kiba and would have if Akamaru had not grabbed his shirt with his teeth to yank his friend out of the way.

"Sakura!!"

* * *

**Heaven is on the way  
You could feel the hate  
but I guess you never will  
I'm on a roll again  
and I want an end  
'cause I feel you creeping in**

* * *

A red head turned her head toward the south. She narrowed her eyes the slightest bit, before turning around and pranced forward like she had felt no disturbance. She giggled and tried to launch herself toward the object of her affection. She squealed out his name.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Thump.

"Ow!" The girl had tried to land in the arms of Sasuke, but instead found herself on the ground. He stood in front of her. If she just reached her fingers a little bit…

She froze when she heard the growled out, commanding voice.

"What happened Karin."

She knew it was an order to answer, but in all honesty she felt there was no need to. Really, so what if Juugo's chakra just exploded tenfold? Not like it mattered. He lost control frequently and there was only that sorry ass excuse of a Ninja, Suigetsu and three unknown chakra's nearby. If he killed them did it matter to her?

No, in fact it would be a blessing! No more annoying Suigetsu! It would basically just be her and Sasuke! All alone. Where they could do naughty thin—

"Karin…"

The full threat of his voice caused little shivers to go down her spin. Terrifying. Just the way she liked it…

"It's nothing Sasuke-kun!!" She stood up quickly and smiled seductively at him. She lifted her finger up to her mouth and placed it in, sucking on it, as if she had hurt it when she fell.

Her tries at making him forget about the problem, failed.

He glared haughtily at her.

Man that was hot!

"It nothing really! Juugo just lost a little control! He's not even half fazed yet. I doubt it will be a problem anytime soon. So let's just have a little alo—"

She stopped when she saw Sasuke walk past her toward where she had sensed Juugo's relapse.

"How far away is he?"

She pouted. Damn! Why could she never get any alone time with Sasuke!!

"An hour or so if we travel top speed, but I don't see why we have to—"

By the time Karin realized that she was now alone in the clearing, Sasuke had already traveled a nice distance.

"SASUKE-KUN! WAIT!!!"

She leapt through the trees after him.

* * *

**What I found in this town  
I'm heading for a breakdown  
What's that sound, you're so loud  
I'm heading for a breakdown**

* * *

She knew he was following her. It wasn't something that was incredibly hard to notice, especially considering the levels of his chakra right now. It was unbelievable. She was running faster than she had ever gone before, her chakra focused in her feet, but yet he was still keeping pace with her. For crying out loud the limbs of the trees were breaking from how much chakra she was using!

**How the hell can something be so fucking fast!!**

Ignoring her inners shouts and exclamations, Sakura continued her wild flight. In all honesty she was completely terrified of the creature that was following her. The way that giant arm just sprouted from him like a flower. That's when she recognized why he reminded her of someone.

His facial expressions, the crazed look, the way his chakra turned animalistic in a second flat, all reminded her of the attack on Konoha 5 years ago.

Gaara.

This man named 'Juugo' reminded Sakura of Gaara and how he attacked her, lodging her to a tree. She didn't remember what happened afterwards, but that look in his face…it was crazed. Of course she held nothing against the man especially now, but that look in his eyes never left her.

Why was she the one that always ended up being chased by the crazy ass people?

After he slammed her into multiply trees and went about tearing things to shreds, Sakura realized that the man would probably end up destroying everything including Kiba and Akamaru, so for their sakes she took off hopping that the 'thing' would follow her.

It did.

**Smart plan Sakura….now what the hell are we supposed to do?!**

_Run._

**Yeah well we are doing that and he's still catching up! Like supper fast! So what the hell do we do when he does?**

At that moment she heard a giant thud behind her. She was just about to push off to another branch, but instead turned around with such quick speed a non-ninja would get sick. She clutched a kunai in her hand and infused a little bit of her chakra into it, giving it more power.

Just ten feet away on an oversized branch stood the crazed man, she had been running from. She watched as he broke out into a fight of laughter, his normal sized arm clutching at his stomach and his entire frame jerked with every movement he made.

**Insane much?**

"HEHEHEHE!!! Pretty girl DIE!"

When he lunged at her she was fully ready, but the impact of him slamming into her kunai knocked her off the branch she was standing on and made her fall to the ground. She managed to flip her body around like a cat and land on the soles of her feet. The 'thing' didn't have such a soft landing.

Sakura had somehow managed to hang onto the kunai and now could see it had a small amount of crimson on it. She looked at the man who was lying on his back and saw there was a small cut in his shirt around his stomach.

_Damn that's not a vital…_

"HE…HEHEHE!"

Now he was just freaking her out. Before he could recover from the fall, Sakura quickly slammed her fist to the ground causing it to groan in protest as the entire forest floor split open. Juugo got caught in the force and was launched in the air. When he fell back down, she heard no noise.

Instincts made her want and check if the thing was dead, but fear out wade it and so instead Sakura turned on her heel and sprinted away from the scene. Before she could even get a few steps, Juugo was standing in front of her.

"Where pretty girl go?"

_Ah crap…_

* * *

**Drank up all my alcohol  
This is not a free for all  
I'll be there for you  
'Til my heart is black and blue**

* * *

She had been fighting the guy off for an hour. A fucking hour! Running and then hitting him with a chakra infused fist when he started to catch up to her, before she took off running again. Yet somehow he always managed to catch up to her again, no matter how hard she hit the ground or him.

How was it physically possible for someone to not die after getting knocked around repeatedly by her. True she only managed to nick to the side of his chest with one of her punches and the rest where ones directed at the ground, some people could die if they got hit by one of the flying rocks that broke apart from her ground attacks.

But no here he was chasing her, like it was a game.

A sick ass game.

A giant thud alerted Sakura of Juugo's presence and she immediately turned around ready to strike at him or the ground. She stopped when she saw his face.

His hand that still had not turned into the sick demented one clutched at his face and he was taking short gaspy breaths. Deep within his throat he made some kind of chocking noise.

Sakura staggered backwards unsure of what to do.

"NO! Stop it!!! I don't want to!!!"

His outburst caused her to jump backwards and bring her hands out in front of her; prepared to hit the man with a punch if need be.

"Leave her alone!!!"

Sakura eyes widened.

'**Her?' Does he mean us?**

She continued to back up, unsure of what to do. His demon-like arm started to retract and he growled out to what Sakura sounded like pain. He let out another agonized cry. Sakura was stuck. She could leave now, but this person was obviously in pain and the medic side of her wanted to make that pain go away.

**Are you crazy?! Leave while he's distracted! Leave! Does it really matter if he's in pain? He tried to kill you for the last hour!!! He probably will still try to kill you after you try to help him! **

_I-I know but…_

**Ah! No buts! Get the hell out of here!!!**

Sakura nodded her head to her inner and turned on her heel and scrambled across the ground till she launched herself into a tree above, preparing to make an escape. She stopped once she heard the broken voice come from below.

"P-Please….Please h-help me…"

She turned around to look back down at the ground. The man was now lying on the ground, his face implanted into it and his back facing the sky. Even from a good amount of feet above she could tell he was shacking. She watched him wither, all the while letting out a strangled whimper and without thinking she jumped back down and ran to his side.

Hesitantly she reached a hand out toward the back of his head.

"Ano…Are you—"

She was interrupted by the large hand that grabbed her tiny wrist. She let out a squeak of surprise, before he face twisted to one of pain. She felt the grip tighten, making her scream out in pain.

"HEHEHE…I like the way….pretty girl scream…..hehe" he chuckled out. His face slowly turned around from its view of the ground and looked at her. He still had the same insane look on his face.

**IDIOT! It was a trick! A trick! What the hell did I tell you?! And what the hell are you doing, just standing there?! Run! Run for our lives!!!!**

Using chakra infused strength, Sakura quickly ripped her wrist away from his hand and proceeded to flee the scene. Before she could travel far something came into impact with her back and caused her to slam into the ground, rolling over a few times till she crashed into the bark of a tree.

**Ah crap that hurt like a bitch!**

_Will you just SHUT UP!!!_

Sakura groaned at the pain in her back. Her face had landed in the dirt and she lifted it the side so she could see the approaching man. He walked slowly, as if he knew she would not be running anytime soon.

He was right.

He continued walking at a slow pace and it felt like forever before he reached her. He stood to the side of her and a deep throaty chuckle escaped his lips. The chuckle soon escalated into a choir of crazed laughs that felt echoed across the silent forest.

Sakura was sorely pissed off.

Without over thinking it, she reached out with both her hands and gripped his legs. He let a scream at the loud crack that occurred from her inhuman grip. She smirked at the knowledge that she had succeeded in breaking both his legs.

She couldn't help but smile as he crashed to the ground and she was certain this time he would not be getting up. With great speed she reached behind her and touched the spot that was aching from the impact and healed it. As she did this the man moaned in pain, but she did not think twice about it.

Once she knew she had healed herself enough to run without too much pain, she stopped her ministrations and stood up. She forced herself not to look down at the man and walked away, wincing with each step.

She stopped though once she felt her heart grow heavy with guilt. This 'Juugo' guy reminded her too much of Gaara. The way he had begged her for help seemed too real to be acting. Gaara had not had a lot of control of himself before he met Naruto.

Could this man be a binju?

Not that was impossible. Only two binju still remained and that was Naruto and the eight-tailed beast that was the Raikage's brother. There was obviously no demon possessing him.

_But something's wrong with him…_

She quietly turned around and watched the man lay unmoving on the ground. She had suspension that the pain of having his legs broken, lead him to fall unconscious. She decided to test her theory before she approached him, not taking any chances.

Picking up a rock she chucked it precisely in front of his face.

He didn't even flinch.

Walking forward very slowly, she inspected further.

His breaths came in shallow gasps, but where evenly spaced. She cautiously walked forward, before bending in front of him and gently pressing too forefingers to his temple. She gently pushed some chakra into his system and was shocked at what she found.

* * *

**You breakdown, you're so proud.  
I'm heading for a breakdown.  
What's that sound, it's so loud.  
I'm heading for a breakdown.  
No!**

* * *

"Oh great!"

She felt the uncaring stare meet her.

"What?" he asked in his annoyed voice.

Karin had stopped leaping from tree to tree when she felt something invade Juugo's chakra. The other chakra source was doing something to him.

"Juugo's chakra is being invaded! The other person with him is—" Karin couldn't even finish speaking before Sasuke took off. She leaped after him, desperately trying to not get left behind.

"Sasuke-kun?! What about Suigetsu? I sense that the other chakra sources I felt earlier are almost to him. I'm pretty sure that they're going to assist the two people he was fighting earlier. He too much of an idiot to realize that others are approaching till their standing two feet in front of him."

She heard a grunt from Sasuke, but he did not stop his approach toward Juugo. Obviously he thought Suigetsu could take care of himself. It didn't really matter to Karin; in all honestly she was kind of hoping that Suigetsu hit the bucket…

"How far are we now?" was his reply after a few minutes in silence.

"About ten minutes if we hurry. I can feel his chakra signature well now, something is defiantly being done to him. I don't think it's hurting him, but—"

"The other person?" Sasuke-kun interrupted her babble.

Karin knew Sasuke well enough that he was asking for battle information on the chakra signature.

"It has a pretty strong charka, but the guy doesn't have a lot of it left. Nothing you can't handle Sasuke-kun." She smiled at the back of Sasuke, hopping he would respond to her complement, but he gave no reply let alone an indication that he had heard her speaking.

She sighed.

Sometimes Sasuke-kun could be a—

* * *

_A/N: Ah…I'm bored…BLAH!_

_Review, fav, alert!_

_~HalfkyuubiKat~_


	4. Author's Note

Uh, sorry not an update.

If you want to see the reason for the latness of my updates read the top of my profile! (Please do)

Also vote at my poll! (If you want this story updated faster I suggest you do it! That or PM me!)

Thankz a bunch!

~Halfkyuubikat


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: It's been a long time since I updated this story…

-teary eyed- I missed you!

Sorry for all the time that had to be waited on this!

Please check **my profile** for some info on my absence, but if you don't want to...this should be enough to understand.

**Halfkyuubikat is sooooooooo sorry and feels sooooooo bad about everything that she promises (swears on her life and Jesus Christ -gasp-) that for the next week there will be AT LEAST 1 update everyday cause she feels just that guilty-Week.**

Anyway let's not waste time; here is the next Chapter of Always Alone!

Song this time is: **So Far Away ~ Crossfade**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**I've been changing but you'll never see me now  
I've been changing but you'll never see me now  
Now I'm blaming you for everything**

* * *

Her body almost trembled at the force of the orange haired man's chakra thrust against her invading one. If it had not been for the fact that she had been trained by Tsunade, she had no doubts that the pressuring chakra from the unconscious man would have harmed her in some way.

However she changed the molding of the light green on her fingers and kept her hands pressed directly against Juugo's forehead.

When the powerful force stopped its assault, she let out a shaky breath and continued her search into the man.

It didn't take her long to realize just what was making this man lash out in such a monstrous way against her.

He had two chakras circulating around in his body.

Of course one of them was miniscule and almost undetectable compared to the vibrant one that had attacked her just moments before, but it was still there.

And after feeling the chakra for just a few more moments, Sakura couldn't help but pull her hand away in disgust. She recognized the darker chakra and how it was more prominent then the smaller one that barely existed. She could safely say she knew exactly what was wrong with this man.

He was another one of Orochimaru's experiments.

After Sasuke had killed the sick man, all the experiments that managed to escape the outbreaks of fighting, came looking for a cure one way or another. And most of them ended up in Konoha. There were such large quantities of people searching for a reversal to the changes to their DNA, that Tsunade had been forced to momentarily create a new sector at the hospital that specialized in caring for the Sound runaways.

Sakura was proud to say that she was instated as head doctor for the temporary installment. So, of course since she was around 15 she has been dealing with Orochimaru's experiments, but for the past year and a half that she has specialized in that area of treatment, she had never seen a case as bad as this mans.

The cursed seal was a disgusting creation and it nearly brought an average medic to their knees, but this man…

The sheer power of the dark chakra was breath taking.

Most patients could be cured in a matter of weeks and the younger ones sometimes even a few days, but this Juugo would take months upon months to cure. In fact Sakura wouldn't be surprised if his treatment would expand through the course of a few years.

Just how much shit had been done to this man?

**Almost makes you feel bad for him….**

_Almost?_

**I mean…it's not like he is ever going to be cured. Really! We are the best of the best, second only to Tsunade herself! And with our expertise it would take years to cure him! For fucks sake, we just turned 17! We were just promoted to Jounin! We are epic! What hope does any normal Medic Nin have? This guy has no chance of ever being cured.**

_How does that make you ALMOST feel bad for him?_

**Well we can't do anything about it. Plus, pity is an emotion Ninja should not have. I think it would be best if we left now.**

_I can't just leave him like this…_

**Hello? Have you forgotten this man had been was trying to kill us for the last hour? That he almost broke our back? The fact that he was crazed and psychopathic and like, almost killed us? If we do anything he will probably just want another round of cat-n-mouse. **

_But…just shut up! I'm gonna at least heal his legs partially._

**What? We are almost out of chakra! Use our chakra for better purposes! Like saving our life! **

Ignoring her inner argument, Sakura placed both her hands on one of the broken legs, preparing to heal at least some of the damage, because she had broken both of the man's legs and had limited chakra left she decided that it would be more beneficial if she healed both legs partially. At least he would be able to walk then; albeit in a monstrous amount of pain, but it was better than being paralyzed.

"What did you do?"

The quiet voice nearly caused Sakura to die of shock. Though she was smarter than that and instead chose to leap away from the body she was about to heal.

Her body was prepared to flee at a moment's notice, despite feeling guilty of injuring the man; it didn't change the fact that he could still kill her.

However, when she saw the tired orange eyes staring back at her, she didn't feel as tense. In fact she even slouched her body the tiniest bit. She didn't feel like he would try to hurt her again. Even her inner was quiet.

"The headache is gone…"

Sakura tilted her head in confusion before she realized suddenly that it is a natural instinct in her chakra to form a numbing solution while healing or investigation for information with a patient. She supposed that while she looked into his chakra she must have healed whatever the headache was coming from.

"So many have tried…they kept trying…it hasn't gone away…the pain is always there. How could you make it go away?"

"I'm a Medic Nin." Sakura answered quietly. She should be embarrassed of nothing, but somehow the way his eyes stared at her in joy filled wonder was making her almost break out into a blush.

"Can you...can you—"

"Cure it? You're one of Otogakure's experiments right?"

His eye's widened, Sakura swore she saw some shining emotion glitter across his face.

"Can you cure me? Make the part of me…make me stop hurting people?"

Sakura gently rubbed her arm in thought. It was true that from what she gathered in her exploration and from treating so many similar patients that she could cure him. It would take much longer than the others, but she believed she could still do it. The thing was, how could she ever give up so much time to heal a renegade ninja? She couldn't constantly leave Konohagakure to treat him…which could only mean he would have to come to her.

But he was a threat. It was clearly seen in the way he violently chased her and how he had lost control so quickly. She had known this to happen with the other patients, but she had never seen one lose control to such a degree as him. How can she endanger her country like that?

But he didn't seem to actually want to bring her pain. In fact the way he was staring at her with the large eyes filled with hope, made her a hundred percent sure that he was a good person.

"Yes…I think I could. But the process—it would be a long one."

Her decision had been the right one; she was sure of it.

"Heal…you can…"

He seemed so shocked that Sakura couldn't help but smile brightly. It was then she realized it was one of the first real smiles she had used in a long time. Perhaps this man would be good for her. He seemed so innocent and Sakura couldn't help, but feed off it.

"I have healed others with the cursed seal…I'm an expert in that area. Although I have never seen a person with such a strong level of it before…"

_Not even Sasuke-kun…_

"I don't have a cursed seal…I'm its origin."

"Nani?"

"I'm its origin. My blood was used to create the cursed seal." Juugo spoke softly.

The origin? The original? Sakura suddenly realized just how important this man really was. The origin of the cursed seal…if she managed to bring him back to Konoha. If she could find a cure for this man…She was certain that she could find a definite cure for the hundreds of people out there that still held the cursed seal.

It would be beneficial for the world if she could cure this man.

"I don't think it will hinder your healing. I might have to take a different approach in healing you, but I'm sure that I can find a way to cure you. If I can't than no one can. You'll have to come back to my village and we'll have to run some tests to decide a method in treatment, but we can—"

"Your village?"

"Yes, Konohagakure."

And for the first time since she had noticed the man was awake, the hope vanished from his face.

"I can't…I can't leave him."

"Leave who?"

Juugo's eyes hardened at her question. Sakura realized that it was probably confidential information. She thought it would most likely be the silver haired man that he had appeared with, but somehow that seemed unlikely.

The only way Sakura could heal him properly was by bringing him back to Konoha, but she couldn't force him. Even if he was probably the most important person when it came to the Cursed Seal, forcing him into treatment would not be right. After all she had learned that forcing someone into staying or going was the wrong approach.

She clearly remembered Kakashi-sensei telling her that if they had forced Sasuke to stay in Konoha, nothing good would have come out of it. Sasuke would not have been happy and she would never get a happy ever after. Although she hadn't understood that then, she understood that now.

Which were her reasons for not wanting to have sent any more Sasuke retrieval missions. If he had no desire to return, why should he be forced?

So in order to honor her opinions, she decided to let Juugo leave in peace. Obviously she couldn't leave Konoha to treat him, no matter how important he could be to the medical world; he wasn't worth abandoning her village.

"Then I'm sorry." Sakura answered slowly turning around in preparation to return to her team. She realized how stupid she was for forgetting that Kiba was still alone with the silver haired man. She should have never wasted so much time here.

She heard no noise coming from Juugo, so she assumed that he had no intention to change his mind.

But he still couldn't walk.

Sakura hastily turned back around and dropped to her knees placing her hands to Juugo's legs. His eyes stayed on her.

"I'll heal them the best I can, but I have to leave for my team."

She watched him nod his bright orange head and then silence resumed. Throughout the entire time she healed his legs, his eyes never left her form. It caused her to get anxious and worried. He wouldn't try and force her to stay and heal him, would he? Her eyes flickered up to his face occasionally to see him gazing at her with a strange look in his eyes. Like he was plotting something.

Sakura decided it was in her best interest to knock him out before she finished healing his legs. She didn't want him to attempt anything; she had to return to Kiba and Naruto and everyone.

Because sacrificing her life for a single person was a foolish idea that her twelve year self would have done. Shaking her head in disbelief, she continued healing Juugo's legs. She would never allow such thoughts again.

* * *

**No more holding it in  
How many years can I pretend  
That nothing ever goes the way it should  
No more sitting in this place  
Hoping you might see it my way  
'Cause I don't think you ever understood  
That what I'm looking for are the answers  
To why these questions never go away**

**

* * *

**

Karin had to force more of her chakra into her legs.

This was becoming hell now. Why did Sasuke have to be so concerned for Juugo? It's not like the fat lug did anything special. All he managed to do was go crazy and endanger Team Hebi. What kind of person would want someone like that to be on their team?

Not like she cared for Suigestsu much, but he was about to get his ass kicked and did Sasuke-kun care about that?

No.

So what was this thing with rescuing Princess Juugo?

The only thing that was occurring at the moment was Karin trying not to get left behind as Sasuke increased his speed once again. She could now clearly feel both the Chakras ahead of them. Her estimate of 10 minutes seemed to be cut in half.

A few minutes and they would be there.

"Sasuke-kun~!" Karin whined underneath her breath. She was getting really tired of this speed. Couldn't Sasuke slow down a little bit?

Not to her surprise he didn't reply back to her and didn't slow down his pace. However, he did turn his head to look at her. The expression on his face spoke enough.

Being as quiet as possible Karin caught back up to Sasuke's side and listened for any signs of Juugo and the attacking person.

And finally she heard someone speaking.

"You…move…not enough…"

The voice was that of a woman and although Karin thought nothing of it, Sasuke suddenly stopped completely.

Karin turned around and saw that he had the weirdest expression on his face. He looked almost in pain before anger took over all his features.

He jumped forward and Karin had to step aside at his sudden movement so he wouldn't hit her.

What was wrong with him?

"Just close your eyes for a moment…" The voice called forth again. It was quiet and held the tone of a mother speaking to her child. Sasuke growled under his breath and for the first time Karin realized that at some point he had activated his Sharigan.

She rushed after him as they stumbled into a small clearing in the forest.

They had approached silently and quickly and the first thing Karin saw was the woman.

She was leaning over Juugo's torso; her breasts nearly parallel with his face. If not for the fact that Juugo had his eyes closed he would no doubt be able to see down the pink haired girl's shirt.

Her face leaned closer to him and for a moment Karin would have assumed that she was attempting to kiss him, but then she noticed the hand that had moved to rest upon Juugo's neck.

That pressed softly to his pressure point.

The beauty breathed lightly through her full lips. Although Karin figured she should be worried for Juugo's safety, she was instead preoccupied with the woman's appearance and how Sasuke was staring at nothing except her.

The little green bug of jealously only increased when she heard Sasuke speak in a tone she had never once heard leave his lips.

"Sakura."

* * *

**I'm so far away  
I've been changing but you'll never see me now  
I'm so far away  
Now I'm blaming you for everything**

* * *

"Fuck!" Suigetsu cursed.

He would have assumed a stupid injured ninja would be easier to handle, except the stupid injured ninja had a fucking dog the size of a fucking huge bear. What kind of food did they feed dogs in Konoha?

All the same he was now left running with _his_ tail between his legs when he realized he wasn't going to have much of a chance when the stupid mutt boy's back up started appearing.

Not only would he have to face Sasuke and his anger about letting Juugo go on a rampage without even attempting to stop it, but now he had to face the humiliation that he nearly got killed himself by an oversized dog.

He really wasn't looking forward to seeing the rest of the Hebi anytime soon.

And Suigetsu had one question to ask the world…

Why did this sword weigh so freaking much?

Fuck his life….

He was never going to hear the end of this from Karin.

The bitch.

* * *

**No more waiting for the end  
Of every day that I will spend  
Wishing that I only had a choice  
No more pushing you away  
'Cause I'll be busy watching things go my way  
Never looking back on this anymore  
'Cause what I'm looking for are the answers  
To why these questions never go away  
Hey, hey watch me wave  
Goodbye to yesterday  
Nothing left in my way  
Hey, hey I've been saved  
With sun shining on my pain  
Getting me through this day  
Hey, hey watch me wave  
Goodbye to yesterday  
Nothing left in my way  
It feels so good to say  
I'm so far away**

**

* * *

**

A/N: Review?

**National Halfkyuubikat is soooo Sorry Week:**

**(updates)**

~Never Alone (Chapter 12)

~Always Alone (Chapter 4)

~The Darkest Knight (Chapter 3)

~My True Love's Kiss (Chapter 2)

~The Captured Uchiha Matriarch (Chapter 1)

~Motherhood (Chapter 1)

~Sakura's Accumulation of Epic Fails (Chapter 3)

~Surviving Death (Chapter 3)

~My Father's Mistress (Chapter 1)

~The Only (Chapter 2)


End file.
